First Presbyterian
Church of Tonawanda

What We Believe

 

We believe

that Jesus Christ came to restore the whole earth to a real, relationship with God. Jesus meets and accepts every person wherever they are, and invites everyone to start a new life in Him.

We believe

that Jesus Christ is the clearest picture of what God is like. In Jesus we see that Gods’ nature is to love and forgive, and transform us. We believe that by following Jesus’ ways and teachings we grow in faith and discipleship.

We believe

that the Bible is the Word of God - but not because God is contained in the words on the pages. We believe that God speaks to us through the words in the Bible in ways that help us to know God’s will and guidance for our lives.

We believe that Jesus calls people to be the community of God on earth. When we gather, we believe God meets us, calls us, inspires and equips us to be a new reality, wherever we are, incarnating the love of God and neighbor. We do this so that others may discover new life in Christ, and join us in continuing Christ’s mission.

We believe

that God came to our world in Jesus, to restore it “on earth as it is in heaven”. In other words, God wants to make this world the place of goodness and justice and community it was created to be in the first place.

 

There are some ideas that are unique to the Presbyterian way of believing and serving God.

*God is the Loving sovereign of the world. This means that God cares deeply for this world and invites us to care for it too.

 

“God alone is the Lord of conscience” This means that in accordance with God’s Word, and Spirit, there is always room for different ways of understanding and responding to God in faith and life in the same community of believers.

 

“The church is guided by the Confessions.” The Confessions are like channel markers for the church guiding it, without defining or restricting it. They connect us to the history of the church and the ways its’ understanding has changed and grown over the centuries. Presbyterians include the Apostles and Nicene creeds to affirm our unity with catholic and apostolic churches. We include protestant confessions to affirm the rediscovery of God’s grace and the importance of the Scriptures as a primary source of faith and practice. We include Reformed confessions to affirm our faith in the God who continues to “create, sustain and redeem the world in righteousness justice and love.”

 

That is why the Presbyterian motto is, “The Church reformed and always reforming” We believe that there is always more understanding to receive, about God, the scriptures, and faith. We also believe that God’s Spirit is always inviting the church to change and grow in the living of that faith.

 

*The Presbyterian church is democratic in government, and inclusive. The church welcomes all persons who seek to respond in trust and obedience to God’s grace, into its’ membership and ministry. It is governed by Elders (Presbyters), elected by the congregation, according the Reformed understanding that all believers are recipients of God’s gifts, and therefore may serve in the ordained leadership of the church.